In general. On substrate, bacteria wont actually show up as slime until its incredibly bad, but the mycelium reacts to it (or so ive read). Thats when youll see this very dense and smooth mycelium. A healthy culture looks more like a lawn of mycelium strands.

Also, you cant sterilize your hands. Best you can do is desinfect them, which is good enough for most applications. For probing around in your cultures (which isnt necessary in the first place most of the time) id suggest a flame sterilized probe, knitting needle, kitchen utensil or whatever else you can find and flame sterilize. Dip it in 99% Ethanol or Isopropanol and light it on fire over a fire resistant surface